Schedule of Special Purpose Flights

alan cole made this Freedom of Information request to Department of Defence

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was successful.

Dear Department of Defence,

I would like to make the following request. i note that you provide on your website the schedule of special purpose flights only from july 2013. I would like to request the schedule of special purpose flights starting january 2010 up to july 2013

Yours faithfully,

alan cole

FOI, Department of Defence

UNCLASSIFIED

Good afternoon

Thank you for your email.

Your email has been forwarded for further consideration/action.

Regards

FOI Operations
[email address]
02 6266 2200

www.defence.gov.au/foi

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FOI, Department of Defence

UNCLASSIFIED

Good afternoon

The Schedule of Special Purpose Flights are tabled twice a year in Parliament. Please refer to the link to the APH website listed below for Parliament House to access copies of the Schedules for the Special Purpose Flights for the years that you are referring to.

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...

If you require any further assistance you may email: [email address]

Defence FOI now consider this matter closed. If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact our Department.

Kind regards

FOI Operations
[email address]
(02) 6266 2200
http://www.defence.gov.au/foi/

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Dear FOI,
Thankyou for your reply but the parliamentary website does not provide a link to the documents i required i have just checked. it just states the date they were tabled in parliament unlike the pdf documents displayed on your website for the later years so i do not believe this is complying with my information request

Yours sincerely,

alan cole

FOI, Department of Defence

1 Attachment

UNCLASSIFIED

Good morning Mr Cole

I have been in contact with the Senate Tabling Office with regards to your request. Once the Schedules of Special Purpose Flights have been tabled in Parliament they are available for public access. You can contact the Senate Tabling Office by telephone on (02) 6277 3010 or email them at [email address] to request a hard copy of these documents.

You can also conduct your own searches and access copies of the schedules through their website by clicking on the following link:

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi...

You then click on the link for Senate Tabled Papers - https://ecm1.fxdms.net/senat_prd/ies/iv_...

Click on the search button and in the title you will input the following search criteria %special purpose flights%

Click on search this should take you to a table which will list the Schedules of Special Purpose Flights which have been tabled in Parliament.

Tick the queue button for the item that you require. Double click on the item and you will be able to access the PDF for that Schedule.

You will need to contact the Senate Tabling Office for access to the Schedules for the 2012 and 2013 years as they have not been published on their website as yet.

Kind regards

FOI Operations
[email address]
(02) 6266 2200
http://www.defence.gov.au/foi/

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Dear FOI,
I'm sorry but they have ignored my emails, i have not heard back from them. if your department is responsible for this information why is it not possible to send it directly as you must have it ?

Yours sincerely,

alan cole

Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

I understand your reply to the Department of Defence but a different response is probably better. In your first email you did not say that your request was a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The FOI section made the reply to you but that is only because the email address where it was sent by Right to Know was the FOI email box. Because the first request did not definitely say "This is an FOI request", the Department of Defence was not required to give you a formal FOI reply and you do not yet have a right to request a review.

May I suggest that you send again your initial request (I think that it is OK to continue to use this email sequence) and say that it is a request under the FOI Act. Then the mechanisms of the Act will have force.

Dear FOI,
Dear Department of Defence,

I believe i made a mistake in my original email. i should have stated this is a request under the freedom of information act. so under that act I would like to request the schedule of special purpose flights starting january 2010 up to july 2013

Yours faithfully,

alan cole

Yours sincerely,

alan cole

Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

I think that this is a wise choice. The Deparment of Defence will be obliged to give you a formal response. This means either they must give you the documents or explain better why they cannot.

I also wish to suggest another method to try. I know you have emailed and that you did not get a reply. May I also suggest that you make another application (with a new request from Right to Know) and address it to the agency called "Department of the Senate". I believe but I am not completely certain that this Department is not covered by the Commonwealth of Australia Freedom of Information Act ... but also they are usually very helpful. So maybe this approach will give you a quicker response than to Department of Defence.

If you write to Department of the Senate with Right to Know, may I suggest (because of my uncertainty) that you write to say you do not know if they are covered by the FOI Act but you would like these certain documents. Then you will get a friendly reply and if it is necessary (and sensible) you can then also say that your request is an FOI request.

Det er bedre at have to fugle end kun en fugl.

FOI, Department of Defence

8 Attachments

UNCLASSIFIED

Good morning Mr Cole

Please find attached copies of the special purpose flight schedules that you have requested for the years January 2010 to July 2013.

Kind regards

FOI Operations
[email address]
(02) 6266 2200
http://www.defence.gov.au/foi/

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Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

I am very pleased that it was successful after the Department of Defence had some encouragement!